Hoping for a Colman Park beach? The park does reach the shoreline, because the state granted the shorelands for park use in 1909. Before you go, check the Seattle Parks and Recreation page for the park for current details on water access and lakefront amenities.
The steam pump that saw Seattle through the Great Fire
Every walk here traces back, in a sense, to drinking water. In 1881 the Town Council approved Seattle's first municipal water company, which absorbed a tangle of private water systems and won the right to charge for service.
The Spring Hill Water Co. built a steam-powered pumping plant on Lake Washington in 1886, a long way from the town center in those days. When the main pump broke down, engineers brought in from the East could not work out the problem. Seattle engineer James M. Colman then took on the job and worked 36 hours without stopping until the pump ran again.
That same pump station worked hard during the Great Seattle Fire of 1889, and today the park carries Colman's name as a memorial to him.
Olmsted curves and a park built piece by piece
In 1907 the Park Board took control of the pumping plant site, along with part of the pipeline right-of-way climbing the hill. Frink Boulevard was then extended south on a route chosen by the Olmsted Brothers, curving down the slope to meet Lake Washington Boulevard as it came north along the shore.
From there, the park grew in stages:
- Gifts of land and a purchase along the north side made the park wider.
- In 1909 the State of Washington granted the shorelands for park purposes.
- In 1910 the James M. Colman Estate filed a plat that deeded the head of the slope for park use and named the strip from 31st Avenue S to the lake in Colman's memory.
In 2020 Colman Park joined the National Register of Historic Places together with its next-door neighbor, Mount Baker Park.
The 2002 tree cutting case
The park made headlines in August 2002, when Joseph Jerome Farris, a senior judge on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, had 120 mature bigleaf maple and native cherry trees in the park cut down to open up the Lake Washington view from his home. Some of those trees were more than 40 years old and stood taller than 55 feet.
The King County Prosecuting Attorney chose not to bring felony charges, but the Seattle City Attorney fined the judge $500,000, and when the fine went unpaid the city put a lien on his 8,000-square-foot Mount Baker house. The judge blamed a miscommunication with his gardener, who denied it. A jury later sided with the gardener in a lawsuit over insurance coverage, and the judge paid the full amount, $618,000 with interest, in May 2006.
Plan your visit
Head to Lake Washington Boulevard S to reach the lower part of the park, or start from 31st Avenue S at its upper end. For current hours, rules and facilities, look up Colman Park on the Seattle Parks and Recreation website.
If the area's history draws you in, pair your walk with the Ellsworth Storey Historic Cottages, a group of designated landmarks standing about a tenth of a mile from the park.
To spend more time nearby, explore our guide to the Mount Baker neighborhood. For more green spaces around the city, browse our full list of Seattle parks.
